Renowned as Finland's greatest composer, Jean Sibelius showed
early musical ability both as a violinist and composer and
attained a thorough knowledge of Viennese classics through playing
in his family's string trio. In 1885 he enrolled m a law course at
the University of Helsinki, but it was soon clear that his
ambitions lay m music. He moved to the Conservatoire the following
year, where he developed a friendship with the composer Busoni.
who was a member of the teaching staff.
In 1889 Sibelius made a two-year trip abroad to study in Berlin
and Vienna. He formed a taste for high society during this period:
heavy drinking and extravagance led to the beginning of financial
problems that would beset him for some rime to come.
Sibelius returned to Finland in 1892 and married
Aino Jarnefelt,
a member of an aristocratic Finnish family. Their marriage
survived until Sibelius's death in 1957, despite his debts and
drinking. A visit to Bayreuth, the home of Wagnerian opera, m 1894
had a profound effect on the young Sibelius. He abandoned an early
opera, perhaps feeling unable to compete with Wagner, and
concentrated instead on symphonic music. The result was heard m
1899 when both the
First symphony
and
Finlandia were performed to great acclaim. The latter was
composed for a pageant that became a rallying point for Finnish
nationalists at a time when Russian domination of the country was
increasing.
The first decade of the twentieth century saw a massive growth
in Sibelius's international reputation. He travelled extensively,
and was received warmly in England and the United States. In 1901
he met Dvorak in Prague and spent the rest of the year working
on the Second symphony, which takes a more overtly
nationalist stance than his other symphonies. One of his most
frequently performed works, the Violin concerto, was composed in 1903 and became
immediately successful.
This was also a period of extravagance and mounting debt. In
1908 Sibelius became seriously ill and was forced to give up
smoking and drinking for some years. The threat to his life posed
by a suspected cancer may well account for a renewed concentration
and depth in the works that followed. His symphonies are notable
for their organic growth, subtly achieved forms, and refined
instrumentation.
The Fifth symphony, his most popular, was
composed during World War I. Heroic in mood, it is easily accessible and
contains some of the most colourful music he ever wrote. The
postwar years saw only four major new works by Sibelius: the final
symphonies (Nos. 6 and 7), incidental music to Shakespeare's
The Tempest, and finally the tone poem Tapiola in 1
925.
Despite rumours of an eighth symphony, Sibelius lived out his
remaining 30 years in musical silence. Many reasons have been
suggested for this, his drinking and disillusionment with modern
music being most often cited. Whatever the reason, Sibelius had
already proven himself a composer of the highest rank.
